JANE MAGAZINE FOOLS NO ONE

Catalyst September Issue 2002

The August edition of Jane magazine featured a satirical article about how people can use the same tactics as pedophile priests to have casual sex. Titled “How to get laid like a priest,” the article contained a disclaimer asserting it was targeting only pedophile priests, not the Church in general. The accompanying photographs showed a storefront and a display counter of a sex shop with Catholic imagery added, including a priest blow-up doll.

We didn’t care for their sense of humor and consequently put out a news release on the magazine. “Despite the disclaimer,” we noted, “the article, written by Jeffrey Johnson, is nothing short of an attack on the Catholic faith. Holy Communion, Confession, Baptism and celibacy are all targeted for ridicule.”

We were particularly disturbed by what was said of Our Blessed Mother. Johnson wrote “The Bible is full of stuff about seas parting, water turning into wine and women getting pregnant without penetration—topics that, if mentioned on daytime TV, would get you taunted by the audience.” He then described the crucifix as an image “of a nude bearded dude nailed to a couple of pieces of driftwood.” None of this, of course, has anything to do with pedophile priests.

We pointed out that if indeed Jane wanted to satirize the scandal in the Church, “it could have done so by attacking homosexual priests who are responsible for 82% of the cases. But that would have evoked cries of homophobia from those in the social pages where editor-in-chief Jane Pratt can usually be found. Instead, Johnson seizes on the few cases of pedophilia and uses them as a guise to attack the entire Church.”